Method and means for reporting interference with vehicles



March 5, 1935. J. A. WELLS 1,993,497

METHOD AND MEANS FOR REPORTING INTERFERENCE WITH VEHICLES Filed Sept. 28, 1932 HIS A T1' ORNE Y.

Y but Patented Mar.. 5, 1935 METHOD AND Y INTEREERENQE WrrH Application September 28,

v lIhisinvention' relates to ratus for giving rincreased srms ; istinti s. rArENr orties MEANS ron nEroR'rrNel VEHICLES Joseph 4A. Wells, Montclair, N. J. c

1932;,'s'eria1 No. 635,225.

s claims. (ci. o- 2) i a method and appa*- protection to motor trucks and the like against holdups and other trouble `and has for' its object to providepa sim r ple and inexpensive device which is automatic inoperation.Y Another obsr ci this character ject is to automatically indicate-not only the particular truck 'Which-is' in trouble or held up,

also automatically indicate the approximate location of a'vehicle so thatY assistance may bemore readily and quickl y dispatched. Truck loads of Silks andother Valuable goods-have been so frequently Aheld up that the loss Vhas lan"- nually reached lan astonishingly VThis invention contemplates the reduction or" such losses by Vproviding against successful completi large figure;

increased protection on of the crime.

According to thisiinvention an automatic radio transmitter may be started in by the drivers foot when The number or code signal operation Yby the a truck Vis held up. characteristic of the particular vehicle is emitted for reception by a central loiiice tuned to the wave length ofthe transmitter on the truck so that upon knowing which one of a fleet of trucks is in trouble, police or other assistance may Y while the centralzoiiice will schedule of the various trucks, their time of departure` and route and Y,be rapidly dispatched be provided with the destination; the distanceV travelled bya truck may also be included in the rautomatic transmitting of Referring to the drawing Figure l represents one invention; j Fig. 2 is a side View ically moving elements of Fig. 1; f Fig. 3 is a section on a message. Y

embodiment of this of lthe motor and mechanthe device Yshown in Fig. 4 isv a section on the linef44 of Fig/1';

andr

Fig. 5 showsthe contact face of one ofv the relatively stationary switch members which is engaged by the rotary switch member in automatically transmitting a message. l

The movable switch member l0, asshownin Fig. .1, may be-a pedal or pedal operated and located adjacent the feet.. truck. This switch closed by the drivers foot is normally open of the driver ofthe 1 and when engages. the contact member ll, thereby closing an electric circuit from the battery l2 throughone side of the Vline 13,'1 the closedV switch members l() and l1 and the line 14 to the motor l5.

the'other side of the line i the batteryl The batteryV lFrom the motor s grounded as is also 12mayfbe the usual belt 16, the generator 17 being-oi locatedi within starting'batterycarried bythe truck orr may be some additional batterysuitable for 'operating transmitter mightV be'obtained from a. battery or other source ci current as has been customary in portable radioA transmitters.' Instead oi breaking thel'high potential circuit from the generator throughl the wires 19 or1v2() by some automatic -vmessage transmitting" circuit. nterrupter,'it .is preferred to break the .generator circuit by means of arelay as iscustomary'and not herein specifically shown, the relay vbeing the transmitter' 18 and operated by the'batt'ery current through theline 22. The transmitter may4 .be providedwithsome con# venient type'oantenna 21 located'in' the rooi of thetruck 'or elsewhere. Y kThe makexandbreak apparatus for auto- 25 matically transmitting the radio message coritemplates a rotatable circuit interrupter 23 provided with'a contact '25 driven-by the motor through suitable reduction gearing 24. The rotary switch or contactV element 25 passes over one or more'stationary contact elements 26. The face offthe stationary.. Contact element 26 may comprise one'` or more conductor .barsoi different lengths orV shapes, for example, the Contact face ofthe member 26 might be of' the type illustrated` in Fig. 5 in which the conduct ingV segment 27v,`whe'n passed ,overV by the moving contact 25, would transmit a dash and'then' the two conducting elements 28'and'29would transmit two dots, since these several conducting members. are separated by insulating material. Of 'coursaany' danger-ofarcing maybe reduced by the provision' of aV-.shuntedv condenser orother commonly used'means' for ysuppressing an are. As the movable contact member 25 rota-tes, it will be seenr that eachtime" this member passes across the face of the stationary contact mem'- ber 26, ther circuit willl be made and broken` and the radio message sent out. The message depends'on the construction Yof the face o'i the stationary contact-member'. 26 and in the-,emI bcdiment illustrated, Ythis stationary contact memberv 26 may be used Ato send out amessage characteristic or the particular truck. In other words, a diierent arrangement, orV dots and 45Y fr llil vehicle, the illustrated embodiment contemplates transmission of another signal responsive to the distance the vehicle has travelled and The driven by an odometer or its equivalent. ileXible shaft 30 may be connected to a Wheel or lotherwise as is common for speedometer or odometerr connections. 'I'he reduction gearing customary in an odometer may be located adjacent the bearing 31 or in some other convenient position. From the reduction gearing, a wheel 32 may be driven and, in the embodimentillustrated, it is contemplated that the wheel 32 shall make one revolution Afor every ve miles the vehicle has travelled, Oi course, the distance to be travelled for one revolution of the wheel 32 will depend upon the lengthY Aoi. the truck route and if the truuk iS only to go a comparatively few miles, it would be better to have the wheel rotate once Vfor one mile or once for some particular-fraction of' a mile. On the periphery of the wheel 32 is a` pin 33 which, in rotating, engages a pin 34 projecting from the reciprocal member 35 which moves in one direction under the influence of the spring 26 and in the opposite direction by the pin 33. The spring 26 engages a stationary abutment on one side and the slidable member 35 on the other. A downward projection 38 on the member 35 limits its motion to the left in Fig. 2 by cia-operation with the stationary abutment 39. Suitable guideways40 limit the movement of the member 35 to substantially straight line reciprocations. Upon the outer end of the member 35 is carried a pawl 41 which is pressed downwardly by the leaf spring 42 for engagement with the ratchet wheel 43 mounted upon the shaft 44. This shaft 44 is keyed to the inner shaft 45 and the wheel 46 is also keyed on the shaft 45. Around the periphery of the wheel 46 are carried contact blocks of a construction somewhat similar to that of the stationary contact 26, except, .of course, that the arrangement of segments on each block will bedigferent so that a dii-ferent clot and dash signal will be transmittedwhen the movable contact 25 passes one of the block faces 47 from that which is transmitted when another block face is presented for contact with the movable member 25. In the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 2, the vehicle has travelled 75 miles and that particular block face 47 is pre.- sented for co-operation with the moving contact member 25. Here again the segments may be so arranged as to emit dot Yand dash signals giving the actual mileage or else a code sig-nal indicative of the travel of the vehicle either in linear units or in fractions of its route.

The mechanism just described insures that some one of the block faces 47 will be always presented for co=operation with the moving con-` tact 25, except during that shorttime, almost instantaneously, during 'which the wheel 46 advances the space of one ratchet tooth under the inuenceof the `slidable member 35. As soon as the pin 34 is released from contact,

rotary pin u33, the spring 36 moves themember- 35 to the left in Fig. 2 and rotates the ratchet ually by the knob 43 an angular distance equal to that of one tooth. In this Way there is substantially no danger of the wheel 46 stopping in a mid-position with not one of its face blocks 47 in position for co-operation with the moving contact 25.

In order to re-set'the Wheel 46 to zero position upon completion of a trip, there is provided a knob 48, shown in Fig. 4, as being aixed to a central rod 49, so that upon pulling out the knob 48 to the right in Fig. 4, the ratchet is moved out from under its pawl 41 and both the ratchet and the Wheel 46 may then be turned lby hand until in the correct angular position for starting another trip. Upon release of the knob48, the spring 50 forces the ratchet wheel 43 back into co-operation with its pawl 41, oneI side of said spring 50 engaging the slidable shaft 44, while the other end of the spring 50 yco-operates with the non-slidable abutment illustrated by the wheel 51. As shown in Fig. 3, the wheel .51 is provided with teeth of the general shape` illustrated for co-operation with the Awedged shape element 53 carried by the leaf spring 52. This detent wheel thus is revolved either man- 48 or automatically by each motion of the reciprocating member 35, so that the correct position for the wheel `46 isinsured in order that its co-operative face block 47 may be in the correct angular' position to engage the contact 25. The circuit through the contact segments of each face block is through Athe Wheel 46 and the frame of the machine to the ground 55 and then back to the battery 12.

The receiver 56 may be of someV convenient and well known type. a The message may be re ceived audibly by a listening operator continually in attendance, or the message mayv be received upon a printed or perforated tape for purposes ofV preservation and record,.if desired. The receiving operator inthe central station is provided with maps indicating the route of each truck in the `eet to be protected and is also supplied with information concerning the time of departure and expected arrival of each truck, so that as soonpas he learns any particular truck is in difficulty, he will be able .to tell approximately where that particular truck should .be found and he can immediately communicate with the police vor With the protective organizations own trouble crew to dispatch assistance as quick, ly as possible. If the route of some of the trucks is of considerable distance, he may be able, by long distance telephone, to communicate with the nearest police station. As soon as a message has been received by the central station indicat,Y ing that a particular truck is in trouble, no additional information should beneeded. However, due to'the possibility of trafc and other delays causing a truck to be considerably off its schedule, it Vmay be desirable to have the central station also receive a message indicating how far the truck, which is in `trouble, has-travelled, or how many units its route have been passed over. It is for this reason that the'received signal has been described as including a portion responsive to the distance the truck has travelled. l-"reier-v ably the stationary Contact member 26 should be located in some other position than directly opposite the distance responsive Contact member ini order that the unequal displacement and time between the two portions of the signal, that is while the movable contact 25 is moving from one to the other, may indicate which portion of the signal isthe vehicle number and which' portion is the distance. For example, if .the stationary contact member 25 is located beneath `the axis of the wheel 23, then with the direction ofv rotation shownby the arrow in Fig. 21, the. operator at the central'stationvreceiving the message will knowthat the first portion of the message is the number o1" the truck and that the second portion is the distancethe truck has travelled and be able to identify which portion isV which when there is a much longer pause between one part of the message and another. It may be desirable to provide special odometer parts adapted for each trip, that is whena truck` has taken along trip, such as about 100 miles,`one type of odometer element may be' used so that eachmovement of the wheel 46 may indicate 5% of the total journey and on the other hand, ifv the route is much shorter, say 5 miles, a different part may be substituted so'that the wheel 46 may still indicate 1/ 20 or 5% Vofthe distance. `Of course, the odometer responsive message may also' state the actual mileage.

In operation, when the truck has been held up, the driver rising with his hands in the i air, can close the switch member starting the motor and the generator 17'and thus autocatically emitting signals-by radio which identify the number -of thevehicle and itslocation.

. Preferably, radio messages are repeated continually until either the battery has run down or the trouble is over, when the movable switch member 10 may be manually opened. If desired, another switch may be provided in the battery circuit for cutting out the motor and transmitter manually or such cut-out switch may be time controlled and adapted tooperate after the signals have been sent out for say 5 minutes. The provision of such a time controlled cut-out switch would safeguard the battery from being run down and better enable the vehicle to start if lthe same battery is being used for' starting the vehicle motor.

Instead of the switch 10 having only one posi- Vtion as shown in Fig. 1, it may be provided with two positions, so that in one position the motor and generator, if started, andthe messages sent out, would include only the vehicle number, .or y

,in other words, in this position of theV switch member 10, the circuit could be opened through the ground connection in order that the distance responsive portion of the emitted signal would not be presented. rIYhe reception of such a signal by the central ofcemight indicate mechanical trouble and not theacutev difficulty that might be offeredby reception of the signalv including both portions. A further modification contemplates a further positionV for the switch member 10, such that either portion of the signal may be cut into circuit.VY That is, in one position a circuit may be completed through the contact 28 and the ground 54, whereas in another position the circuit may be completed through the contact 25 and the ground 55. In this way the driver might use the switch'to first send out a message giving the truck number and then later move the switch membery 10 to another position for sending outV a message giving the mileage'or distance the truck had travelled. A modification,- such as this last, would'prove of substantial advantage to the central oice in keeping advised of the location of leach truck. By having the drivers watch synchronized, the driver of No. 1 truck could be required to report his position any hour on the hour,v and driver of truck No. 2 would report his position every hour at 5v min. .after the hour and sov on.v It might be well toequip each truck with afreceiver also, so that two-way communications might be established andthe driver v,receive a message from the central station advising him of read difficulties ahead and the necessityof taking some detour.V

Such a receiver 'cn the truck `need not vbe ofthe type requiring the! driver to have ear phone continuallyA in position, vbut 4might be of the `type whichY would first givel a visible or audible signal and then enable the driver to receive the message Y from the vcentral ofce; After receiving suchaY message, the driver might-close his switchr of the transmitter controlso as to only give a message identiying his location and then his inumber in sequencediiTerent-froni that in'which the signal is received at the central oiiice if' given automatically.

In lieu of requiring the-driver tol report his position Yat stated intervals of time, as above specified, lthe mechanismlitselfcould be so adjusted asteY accomplishthe automatic periodic transmission of a characteristic signal peculiar to the particularvehicle atlixedv intervals, and in theevent of a'hold-up,-instead or" the switch l0 being closed, itwould be open bythe positive action of the driver,thus-interrupting the transmission or the periodic signals and-thereby the homeoi'ce 'would lbe iapprisedof trouble and also cound ascertain from the last signal received, the approximate mileage-that had been covered, thus enabling it to'rush--assistance to the vehicle at a location somewhere beyond-that from which the last signal had been transmitted.

While my invention is peculiarly adapted for employment on road vehicles, it may also be employed on railway rolling stock for thepurpose of periodically reporting the position of 'passenger trains or freight trains en route and thereby the location of a particular train at certain intervals could be indicated either automatically or manually by a member of the train' crew without necessitating the sending of a message upon arrival at a particular station, as is frequently the case under present conditions.

Various modications from the construction hereinbefore specified may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention as embraced within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim and desire to obtain by United States Letters Patent is:

l. TheV combination with a vehicle, of a radio transmitter carried thereby-an odometer carf distance travelled by the vehicle from a selected starting point, and means for resetting said distance-responsive means at will.

2. The combination with a vehicle, of a radiov transmitter carried thereby, means responsive to a manually controlled switch for automatically and repeatedlytransmitting a radiol message, n

said means comprising a motor, a switch member'actuated by the motor, a -co-operative stationary switch member, a second co-operative stationary switch member which is adjusted in response to the distance travelled by the vehicle and a releasable latching mechanism for said adjustable switch member to enable the same to adjustable switch member adapted to release said l be adjusted independently of the vehicle travel.

3. The combination with a motor vehicle, including a driving motor and a drivers seat, of means for automatically transmitting a `radio signal, an odometer carried by said vehicle which is responsive to the distance travelled thereby, motor-driven means for automatically operating said transmitting means independently of the vehicle motor and means forV starting said motor-driven means, said starting means' comprising a switch located adjacent the seat of the driver of said vehicle and an actuating means therefor; and said automatic signal transmitting means including an element that is responsive to said odometer in accordance with'the elapsed distance the vehicle has travelled as indicated thereby. n

4. Means for transmitting a radio signal from a vehicle which comprises means for automatically emittinga signal characteristic of the vehicle, means for-automatically emitting a signal indicative of the position of the vehicle and means for connecting each of said foregoing means so that each signal maintains a xed time sequence fromA the other in repetition thereof. Y

5. The combination with a vehicle, of a radio transmitter carried thereby, a mechanism for automatically repeating a signal by'said transmitter, a motor for operating said mechanism, said mechanism including a movable part and two parts which are fixed with respect to the movable part, one of said xed parts controlling a portion of the emitted signal andthe other ofV said fixed parts being adjustable in'response to an odometerl to control another portion of the emitted signal.

6. The combinationwith a motor vehicle, of means for transmitting a radio signal, motor driven means'for automatically operating said transmitting means independently of the vehicle motor and means'for starting said motor driven means, saidv starting means comprising a switch and an-actuating means therefor located adjacent the seat of the driver of the vehicle, said switch having at least two closed positions, in one of which vanxadditional signal is automatically repeated between emission or" the rst signal. v

7. The method of radio signalling from a'vehicle, which comprisesv automatically sending out a repeating signal and then changing said repeated signal by adding another repeating signal in xed time sequence to the rst.

8. The method of reporting the approximate location of a vehicle enroute, which comprises effecting the'vtransmission from such a vehicle of different characteristic signals at successive intervals corresponding to the rperiod of time that the vehicle has consumed Vin travelling a selected unit of distance and receiving and translating the signals so receivedratY a central radio receiving station and determining the approximate location of said vehicle according to the character of the signal so transmitted.

JOSEPH A. WELLS. 

